RICHIE GRAY says Scotland must start their Six Nations campaign with a bang – by claiming revenge over England.

The Six Nations has not been a happy hunting ground for the Scots in recent times, having won on just five occasions in as many years.

But the Stewartfield star admits his side have a massive point to prove after a poor World Cup campaign compounded their woes.

Ahead of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield, Richie told the News: “There’s no doubt we have a huge point to prove and we want to start this Six Nations with a bang.

“The last campaign wasn’t great and the only positive from it was that we managed to avoid a whitewash by winning our last game.

“That wasn’t good enough and we need to start winning games right from the off.

“And what better way to do it than against England?

“We want to show people what we are capable of and set down a marker for the rest of the tournament.

“There’s always an extra edge to a match against England, but this one will be pretty special with it being our opening game of the tournament.

“It was very disappointing to lose to them at the World Cup from the position we were in during that match, so from one point it’s a chance for us to get some revenge for that, but on the other hand it’s time for us to start delivering a win as well as a good performance in the big matches.

“Our main focus on Saturday is to play well and make sure we start the Six Nations with a win.”

It will be a new-look England side from the one that sent Scotland packing at the World Cup in October, with a new coach and a squad packed full of youngsters.

Stuart Lancaster will lead the Auld Enemy into battle after he replaced Martin Johnson at the helm and his squad features nine uncapped players and 13 changes from the squad that conquered Scotland in New Zealand.

And Richie knows it will be a real battle against the defending Six Nations champions.

He added: “England will be a vastly different outfit from the one we faced at the World CuP.

“Although there may be some areas where we don’t know what to expect, the one thing we can expect from England are quality attacks and we’ll need to be on our game on Saturday to deal with that threat.

“They’ve shaken things up a bit and it will be a really special occasion at Murrayfield with a sell-out crowd cheering us on, so we’re all really looking forward to it.”

Gray is joined in the squad by fellow East Kilbride player Ally Strokosch.

The Gloucester flanker, who also endured Scotland’s miserable World Cup campaign, will be hoping to play an important part this year after being left out of the opening games for last year’s Six Nations.

l Scotland v England is live on BBC One and BBC HD from 4.35pm on Saturday. Kick-off is 5pm.